North Sea graves of first world war vessels

Two British first world war submarines have been found on the bed of the North Sea.

One has been identified as the E16, which sank with its crew of three officers and 28 ratings on August 22 1916. The Royal Navy submarine museum in Gosport, Hampshire said yesterday the sub was presumed to have hit a mine. The identity of the second is more of a mystery.

The E16 had sailed from Blyth, Northumberland, under the command of Lieutenant Commander KJ Duff-Dunbar on a mission to hunt down German U-boats.

German divers discovered the wreck in 45 metres of water off the North Sea island of Heligoland, but said they would only give its exact position to the Royal Navy. An amateur diver, Rolf Shutt, found the submarine earlier this year, but had to wait until last week for conditions that allowed it to be filmed.

The expedition's cameraman, Sascha Kellersohn, said: "The aftmost five to 10 metres of E16 is destroyed. All that remain are the two propellors and their shafts. The rest is in good condition, except that the tower has fallen down."

Mr Kellersohn said the expedition had identified the vessel from markings on the propellors.

The second wreck "a couple of miles away" was more of a mystery. Mr Kellersohn said it appeared to belong to the same class as the other submarine, which meant it was one of only six vessels still intact. "There's no damage visible from outside. On the inside, though, all the hatches are smashed out, and it looks like there was an explosion, perhaps of ammunition", he said.

A spokesman for the submarine museum, George Malcolmson, said: "We call for people in the diving community to respect the sanctity of the war grave".

Mr Kellersohn said the expedition would return to the mystery sub to try to identify it. But he added: "The E16 we will never touch again. We don't intend to give out its position. First, because we too see it as a grave, but second because all sorts of crazy divers would try to go down. Already 31 people died in this vessel. I think that's enough".